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Written Question
Foster Care
Thursday 10th September 2026

Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases of overpayment to a birth parent of (a) Disability Living Allowance for children and (b) Carer's Allowance have been identified in each of the last five years, in cases where the child has entered foster care.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)

The information requested is not held centrally and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Division Vote (Commons)
9 Sep 2026 - Plant Health - View Vote Context
Rebecca Smith (Con) voted No - in line with the party majority and against the House
One of 87 Conservative No votes vs 0 Conservative Aye votes
Vote Tally: Ayes - 371 Noes - 100
Written Question
Speed Limits: Cameras
Wednesday 9th September 2026

Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with (a) police forces, (b) regional road safety partnerships and (c) course providers on mitigating the financial impact on instructors of cancellations of (i) speed awareness and (ii) other educational courses arising from the suspension of speed camera enforcement.

Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department is working closely with National Highways, Home Office, and National Police Chiefs’ Council to ensure the Home Office approved solution for cameras affected by the anomaly is implemented as quickly as possible, once rigorous testing is complete.

The police continue to enforce speed offences on the network through a range of tactics. The HADECS camera system anomaly relates to a specific subset of enforcement activity affecting a small portion of speed awareness courses. The Department does not anticipate a significant impact on providers as the majority of courses are still taking place.

Division Vote (Commons)
8 Sep 2026 - Health Bill - View Vote Context
Rebecca Smith (Con) was Teller for the Ayes and against the House
Vote Tally: Ayes - 162 Noes - 297
Division Vote (Commons)
8 Sep 2026 - Health Bill - View Vote Context
Rebecca Smith (Con) was Teller for the Ayes and against the House
Vote Tally: Ayes - 106 Noes - 302
Division Vote (Commons)
8 Sep 2026 - Health Bill - View Vote Context
Rebecca Smith (Con) was Teller for the Ayes and against the House
Vote Tally: Ayes - 108 Noes - 357
Speech in Westminster Hall - Mon 07 Sep 2026
Surrogacy Law and Legal Parenthood

"It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Pritchard. I welcome this debate.

As we know, the petition asks for parental orders to be permitted at birth. I believe that Members should approach the proposal with extreme caution. The number of people who have signed the petition—over 113,000, …..."
Rebecca Smith - View Speech

View all Rebecca Smith (Con - South West Devon) contributions to the debate on: Surrogacy Law and Legal Parenthood
Speech in Westminster Hall - Mon 07 Sep 2026
Surrogacy Law and Legal Parenthood

"The hon. Member and I have a great shared interest in fostering and adoption and have spoken about those issues a lot in the past. To clarify, is he saying that there should still be a six-week gap between the birth and the parental order being signed, or that there …..."
Rebecca Smith - View Speech

View all Rebecca Smith (Con - South West Devon) contributions to the debate on: Surrogacy Law and Legal Parenthood
Speech in Westminster Hall - Mon 07 Sep 2026
Surrogacy Law and Legal Parenthood

"Will the hon. Lady give way?..."
Rebecca Smith - View Speech

View all Rebecca Smith (Con - South West Devon) contributions to the debate on: Surrogacy Law and Legal Parenthood
Speech in Westminster Hall - Mon 07 Sep 2026
Surrogacy Law and Legal Parenthood

"There have been a couple of mentions of the time it takes to get an order, but parents in the UK adoption system have equally long—often much longer—waits to take on parental rights over a child. We are in danger of creating two separate systems, so that putting in an …..."
Rebecca Smith - View Speech

View all Rebecca Smith (Con - South West Devon) contributions to the debate on: Surrogacy Law and Legal Parenthood